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Happy Feet/Original Script
This is the original script for Happy Feet. Lots of concepts used here were dropped in the final cut of the film. Trivia *Some of the characters' names are changed. *Some concepts used here were dropped later on during production. *Roxanne from the GBA version of Happy Feet: The Videogame is mentioned in the original script and the final cut of the movie. *One of the mates calling out "Gloria" is later reused for Ella's final version who would later be renamed as Gloria in the film. Warnings *There is a bit of mild language. *Actions have consequences and unlike in the film, penguins are shown dying. *Overall, the original script is darker than the final cut, and was definitely going for a PG-13 rating. Transcript HAPPY FEET (Early Draft) Written by George Miller Screenplay by John Collee SPACE Distant STARS, with vast tracts of darkness stretching between them. Move in on OUR SUN, dwarfed in the immense cosmic ocean. MUMBLE (VO): '''You ever feel small? Moving in on... '''PLANET EARTH The spinning blue marble. FADE IN: A strange cacophony of MUSIC, growing louder as the familiar CONTINENTS revolve below us and we spiral down onto ANTARCTICA. THE ICE SHELF Vast, pristine, stupendous. Washed with dawn light. A few small BLACK-SUITED FIGURES are moving towards us. MUMBLE (VO): ' Like you're no-one, cos the world is full of us, and everyone's the same. Wait a minute. These aren't humans... they are PENGUINS! '''MUMBLE (CONT'D): ' How do you stand out from the crowd? How do you find someone special? '''A GREAT COMMUNITY EMPEROR PENGUINS all over the place. It's chaos - like Grand Central Station - with everyone SINGING to each other. MUMBLE (VO): ' I know. I know. "You sing your heart out." That's how mum found dad in the first place. Follow a female penguin as she waddles through the massive crowd past an assortment of crooning males. ' KEEN MALE: Babe...I got you Babe... She ignores him NEXT MALE: When a man loves a woman... She keeps moving,until she sees the male of her dreams: WISHFUL: Love me tender love me true,all my dreams fulfil. He stands a bit apart from the rest. And what a voice. What a hip movement. She sings along NORMA J. AND WISHFUL: For my darling I love you and I always will. MUMBLE(VO): With them it was love at first song. Close up on the two penguins as their necks intertwine. MUMBLE (VO) (CONT'D): But with me everything was a different,right from the moment I was born. THE ICE SHELF With infinite care, The EGG is passed from Norma J's feet into WISHFUL's. MUMBLE: ' First rule of survival: get yourself laid before winter. WISHFUL covers the egg, glancing up at the darkening sky '''MUMBLE (CONT'D): ' Apparently I only just made it. Women are leaving and heading off over the ice. The community resounds with sad songs of parting. 'MUMBLE (CONT'D): ' Afterwards Mum went off to the ses to keep warm. Dad stayed home like dad's do,incubating. Norma J is having difficulty tearing herself away. Finally she pads off after the others. 'WISHFUL: ' Safe home baby... As he watches her dwindle into the distance, where huge STORM CLOUDS are building. 'WISHFUL (CONT'D): ' I'll miss you. '''THE DARKNESS Wind comes shreiking across the ice shelf to where THOUSANDS OF MALES are huddled, ice crusting on their feathers. MUMBLE (VO) Tell me what it is about the cold and the dark. Soon as the sun goes away, everyone gets religious The huddled penguins are engaged in ritual chanting LEAD VOICE When all others leave... CHORUS We Remain. LEAD VOICE When the Sun vanishes... CHORUS We Remain. INSIDE THE HUDDLE The adult males are packed shoulder to shoulder, looking downwards at the eggs balanced on their feet. CU on the Lead male, a CARUSO. CARUSO Deny the pangs of hunger. Seal the gaps. Share the warmth.... MUMBLE (VO) Caruso's the leader because he's so incredibly old. Some say more than 40, but you know how penguins exaggerate. OUTSIDE WINDWARD PENGUINS peel off and walk around to the leeward side. WISHFUL is among them CARUSO ....Each one taking his turn to defy the wind. WIDE SHOT The MASSED VOICES rise above the gale, the frosty plumes of their breath forming a shared `thought bubble'...a benevolent ÜBERPENGUIN. CARUSO. ...As we invoke the Great One, Penguin of Penguins. WISHFUL (pushing back inside) OK. Invoke. But keep moving MUMBLE (VO) My dad was never that devout. Often his mind was on other stuff. As the chanting builds, a little thought-bubble appears next to the communal imagination: An image of Norma J NORMA J. (Sings) "I wanna be loved by you, alone and nobody else by you boo boo pee doo" WISHFUL raises his head, breaking the seal. A little puff of steam escapes WISHFUL Amen to that honey. VARIOUS PENGUINS Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa, pal! Ya lettin' out the heat! Penguins around him start jostling to close the gap PENGUINS ...Quit shovin'! ...Hey watch where you're putting your feet CARUSO Brothers, BROTHERS! The Devotions! An egg rolls out of the HUDDLE and onto the ICE. WISHFUL Oh no! I dropped it! Where's my egg! WISHFUL barges out of the huddle, retrieves the egg and waddles back into the warmth again. WISHFUL (CONT'D) S'okay. S'okay. No harm done. MUMBLE (VO) I guess he was wrong about a lot of things. Pulling back, till the powerful rhythmic chanting is drowned out by the HOWLING GALE. WISHFUL But I did learnt this from him: the power of positive thinking We are moving in again, towards the huddle, the voices of the Great Male Gathering begin to cut through the wind blasts. Louder and louder, until... ELDER By the power of our Devotions... ALL PENGUINS We turn the world once more. ELDER By our devotion to the Wisdoms ALL PENGUINS We bring back the sun. The CHANTING crescendos, awe-inspiring, as it rises above the sound of the gale, and, as if in response THE EARTH TURNS! The CURTAIN OF DARKNESS which overshadows Antarctica begins to LIFT from the curvature of the southern hemisphere. The vast ice-continent is BRILLIANTLY ILLUMINATED once more. ON THE ICE SHELF The ICE itself is moaning and groaning, like a living thing. A SINGLE CRACK appears and widens, then forks and forks again. The whole expanse of fast-ice is DISINTEGRATING, starting at the sea-ice and progressing towards the ice-cliffs. Somewhere an ICEBERG breaks free from the face of a glacier and smashes down into the frozen sea below. At the same time... THE EMPEROR COMMUNITY An EGG cracks open, then another, then all in a rush, like POPCORN. Fathers are calling out to each other as their fluffy CHICKS emerge to greet the daylight. EXCITED FATHERS ...It's a boy! ...It's a girl! ...What a peach! ...What a bruiser! Amongst the excited crowd of males and hatchlings we find WISHFUL staring down at his egg still balanced on his feet. FRIENDLY PENGUIN Late opener, huh? You thinks its alive? WISHFUL I'll say. Listen... He taps the egg with his beak. Bending close they hear a TAPPING SOUND in REPLY. FRIENDLY PENGUIN Well, how about that? WISHFUL taps again. The tapping comes back louder. A TINY FOOT pops out of the egg. Then ANOTHER. The Egg flips and lurches off in a giddy DANCE. WISHFUL Whoa li'l buddy, slow down! THE FRIENDLY PENGUIN'S chick giggles at the DANCING EGG, which finally trips and cracks, depositing baby MUMBLE. MUMBLE (hopping from one foot to the other) Ow! Freezy, Fuh-Fuh-Freeezy! All Freezy! OTHER PENGUINS ...Jees! ...You ever see a chick move like that before? ...is he damaged? ...is he deranged? They gather round staring down at this strange little jigging ball of fluff WISHFUL What? Come on. He'll grow out of it. Shovelling MUMBLE off the ice and into his BROOD POUCH. WISHFUL (CONT'D) Come here, li'l Mumble. Let's get you warm and toasty. Mumble SNUGGLES contentedly between his father's legs, surveying his new world. The friend's chick, ELLA is staring at him fascinated ELLA Get him to do it again Daddy. FRIENDLY PENGUIN Shh...Quiet (Full script yet to be added.) Category:Transcripts Category:Concepts